Category Archives: Pets

I got Suki from a rescue when she was about 1 1/2 years old. I didn’t know a lot about her back story except that she’d been turned into the rescue twice by families who said they just didn’t really want her anymore. I promised her that I’d stay with her to the end. My sweet Suki passed away this evening after 14+ great years. She was a fierce and loyal companion with a mind of her own.

I picked her up from a rescue 6 hours from my house. After the long drive home she bounded into the house, ran into each room, and then jumped on my bed and peed. I’m not sure if she was just super excited to finally be home or if she was getting me back for the long ride in the car.

Soon after I got her, a friend lent me his book on training Akitas. I’d skimmed it a bit and left it on the table so we could start our training soon. The next morning I woke up to find the book shredded on the floor…. Suki had never torn up anything before and never did again! She just wanted to make sure I understood that she didn’t need any training. She would walk to her own beat.

One of Suki’s favorite games when she was younger was to steal your socks or underwear as soon as you jumped in the shower and run off with them. She was a stealth little thief!

She also had this toy that was actually a stress doll… one of those things you beat on when you are stressed and it would scream (Weird, I know). Well, Suki took it from Toby and claimed it as hers. She loved to carry it into our room at night and chew on it so that it would scream “YOUR DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!” as we were sleeping.

Suki was a bit of a puppy until she was probably 7 or 8 years old. She finally started to mellow out a bit. The kids took advantage of that and would dress her up. Sometimes it was just to keep her warm in the winter.

Sometimes it was because she looked so cute in hats.

Dearest Suki, I hope you are now at peace. I hope your heaven is full of squirrels and chew treats, underwear and all of your favorite things. I love you and will miss you dearly!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. Things have been busy at the homestead, as usual. The garden is bursting, the school year has finished up, I’m continuing to move along with aerials… but what’s really taken up a lot of time and emotions is Kaia’s kitty, Oreo. Back in April, we noticed that Oreo was not his normal self. He seemed depressed and lethargic. We took him for a check up and discovered that he had FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis).

For those of you who have never heard of this awful virus, I hope you never have to get to know it personally. It is a 99% fatal virus that attacks the kitty’s immune system. For the last two months there have been special foods, syringe feedings, IV fluids, many medications, and lots of love. Oreo fought a hard fight, but he crossed the Rainbow Bridge last Friday. It was a sad time for all of us, but especially me. Oreo and I had bonded and I will miss his sweetness. I still tear up thinking of him. It’s so hard to feel so helpless when someone you love is sick.

And in the midst of all of this, my baby girl turned 10!

That’s double digits!!! That’s starting puberty!! That’s pre-teen! Holy cow, how time flies!! I asked my girl what she’d like for her birthday and she quickly replied, “A Treehouse!!!” Sweet! We can do that! So far, we’ve (Toby and his dad, really) gotten the platform done. It’s been raining cats and dogs here all spring. But the walls and roof will go up as soon as the sun starts shining again. Then, I may have to kick Kaia out of the tree house so I can play!!

We continued our studies of Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clarke Expedition this week with some basket making. We used a kit from a local craft store. It was said to be ‘easy to use’. Other than a bit of prep work (measuring and cutting the reeds, and dying a bit of it blue), it really was fairly easy to do.

The kit came with enough to make two baskets. So, I made one for Leif while Kaia made hers. Mine was much easier to make. Mainly because I didn’t have a kitten trying to attack the moving weavers, or jump into the basket every chance he got.

We’d like to get to fire making soon, but I’m hoping for a bit warmer weather first

My plan was to move farther into the 1800’s with our history studies, but Kaia found a book on Marie Antoinette that she really wants to read. So, we are stepping back to the French Revolution for a bit.

Happy New Year my loyal readers! I hope you have all had joyous holidays!!

We have had a very slow and relaxed time here in the hollar reading books, knitting, playing family games, snuggling kittens… I felt so lazy It’s very hard for me to just chill.

Speaking of kittens, they have been fitting in very well around here. In fact, last night I found all four cats snuggling on the couch and no one was hissing about it! There has been a bit of a competition for the only sleeping basket, though.

Cookie Dough and Oreo fit in there nicely together. It’s a great spot for snuggling and for practicing their ninja fighting skills on each other.

Max, however, felt it was his job to show the little guys how he could make himself into a perfect circle.

Of course, Isabella wanted in on the action. Max wasn’t too sure about this.

So far, there is no clear winner in the Basket Wars. Luckily, those not in the basket are finding other comfortable ways to get some sleep. Well, maybe not so comfortable.

Meowwww! Ninja attack move #286.

Oh yes, repurposing your holiday trees. Some years we will get a tree with a root ball so that we can plant it in the yard when the holidays are over. This year, we got a cut tree and decided to recycle it by making fragrant pine fire-starting bundles. Everyone helped snip branches, arrange, and tie the bundles. Kaia even cleaned out the lint trap in the dryer and stuffed some lint into each bundle (lint is a great fire starter).

Well, Kaia has decided that she needs to keep them and that they need to be hers. She has been on a campaign to convince us of why this is a good idea. She wrote lists of the pros and cons of adding two kittens to our family. She debated all the cons: asking neighbors if they would be ok watching extra animals when we are out of town, offering to help feed the animals and clean the litter boxes. And today, she sat out in front of our local grocer and played her penny whistle to earn money.

Her sign says “Your generosity will help me adopt two kittens” She made over $100 in one hour! I’m so proud of my little introverted child. She’s really stepped into new and scary situations lately and has done so with grace. (And a wee bit of sass, as you’ll see at the end of the video.)

Hmmm… Why, you ask, does the big doggie sleep on the hard floor instead of her cozy bed? Because of the giant, fuzzy monster that has taken over the bed!!! You see him?? He’s right there!!! On the bed!! He’s huge and has glowing green eyes!!

We’ve had a wonderfully full summer with activities to keep us very busy. But, with perfect timing, the weather has started to turn a bit cooler just as we are beginning to settle in to our school year and we are feeling ourselves begin to calm down a bit.

Leif LOVES his ‘school’ time. He fusses when I put the books away. He and Kaia spent an hour playing with his new wooden letters yesterday. I sat and knit while she did the lesson for me

This week has been a bit hellacious. I woke up Monday morning to find two puddles of blood by the back door where Suki usually sleeps, and Suki was no where to be seen. I whistled and called for her but she didn’t come. Toby and I started looking for her. We found that a bear had broken into the fenced chicken coop area and emptied the barrel of scratch (I hadn’t yet cleaned up since we got rid of the chickens last week). The bear also broke into the compost bin on the other side of the house from the coop. About 10 feet from the front door was a few clumps of Suki’s fur. Our neighbors came up with their dog to sniff around, and we all searched for hours, with no sign of her. I thought she was gone. I figured she had fought with the bear and then went off into the woods to die. My only hope was that she died quickly, without much pain. I was fidgety all morning, trying to keep my hands busy while my mind spiraled with thoughts of my poor, sweet dog.

Mid-day, a neighbor who lives way down the hill (and who we’ve only talked with once in the past 5 years) drove up to our house and said they found our dog in the woods by their house. She was alive, but injured. Toby went down there and wrapped her up in a blanket to get her in the car. I didn’t even look at her injuries, I just drove straight to the vet’s.

The vet was fabulous, saw to her immediately, and even let me come in the back for the procedures. Her left hind leg was badly injured. Either the claw or the jaws of the bear had gotten a good swipe at her. There was a lot of bruising and some very deep punctures. Drains were placed to help keep the fluid flowing out (and not building up under the skin), and the vet stitched up what she could. Once she was stable, I brought her home.

For the first two days, she wouldn’t pee, though she was walking well considering her injuries. For the first 3 days, she wouldn’t eat. I had to force feed her by putting liquid food in a syringe and squirting it in her mouth. Today, she has begun eating well and is peeing on her own. Her drains were taken out yesterday and her wounds have begun to heal, though there is still a lot of bruising. Her stitches will remain for another week. She is on lots of meds and herbs, but I am truly amazed at the strength of my sweet, old Suki. She never complains. My sweet Suki is an 11 year old Akita (that’s like 90 in human years for an Akita), and yet she will defend her home and her family against a full sized black bear! What an amazing protector!!! From now on, she will have more loving, more treats, and more snuggles!!!

On a bit of a side note, Suki was diagnosed with heart worm 4 months ago. I was very surprised, because we aren’t supposed to have that much in our area. But, apparently I was wrong. I’ve been using herbs for her instead of the very harsh meds that are available through the vet right now. I’m happy to say that they did a heart worm test when she was at the vet this week and she is heart worm negative now!!! The herbs did their job. Now, she just needs to work on healing that leg and living to a happy, spoiled old age.

There are a couple of pictures to follow, but they aren’t for the squeamish. So, be warned.

It was almost exactly this time last year that we had the big snow of ’09 and got snowed in for a week. Well, we are snowed in again and actually have been since Christmas. We’ve played in tents, made snow cream, baked, gone sledding, read, and just relaxed.

The duck surprised us on Christmas morn with their first eggs (finally!!)

I didn’t have any other eggs on hand for comparison, but these eggs were Large and Extra-Large! Can’t wait to see how big they are going to get after they’ve been laying for a while! Very tasty!

Snow Angels!

Snow Suki!

Snow Leif (He looks unhappy, but he asked Toby to carry him back up the hill like this!)

This is only a small part of our drive way!! It’s easy to get lost in your own world when you are out in the country. We are only 10 miles from downtown Asheville, yet in times like this, when the rest of the world is going about their usual daily lives and we are still snowed in on our mountain, you forget that things are going on outside of our cove.

Drying Mittens. Yes those are Leif’s little piggies that I just finished. Both Leif and Kaia were getting snow up their mittens, so I sewed on soem stretch felt to make long cuffs. Works like a charm!

Recharging

Learning about electricity with her dad. She got this Brain Box as a gift and loves it!

Temporary friends. They agreed to share the rug since it is in front of the fire place.

And these two will gladly share a box.

This crazy little man has discovered that he likes baking.

While I’m in the kitchen, and sometimes when I’m not, he will slide his stool up to the counter top, grab a pot, and get cooking!

Yesterday evening, I found this waiting for me when I went to clean up after dinner:

We took the kids to the fair last night for some fun on the rides and greasy fair food!

Kaia has always been a very cautious child and likes to ride the slower kiddie rides. Leif went on any ride that he was tall enough for and then cried and screamed “MORE!” as soon as we tried to take him off of the ride. (I love being able to witness how their personalities unfold like that. They are such cool people!!)

Kaia said this ride was, “Fun enough to ride again, but scary enough not to.”

Learning how to drive a car.

Leif looked a little concerned about riding this little fish all by himself, but when it stopped he asked for more.

This was some kind of crazy fish/helicopter thingy. As you can see, it went fast enough to swing the kids to the outside of the seat. Kaia spent the whole ride trying to slide Leif back to the center

Leif was very unhappy that he wasn’t big enough to go on the bumper cars, but enjoyed watching Kaia.

Oh, and the big happenings at the homestead are that we have a bunny! Well, our land mate, Heidi, has a bunny. She spent this past week at the John C. Campbell Folk School learning how to prepare , spin, and dye natural fiber and came home with little gray angora bunny! She’s such a cutie and very sweet!

I have to admit, since learning how to sew in January, I haven’t picked up my knitting needles. But now that the weather is cooling down, I’m getting the urge again!

My sweet cat Max is at the vet for a reaction to Sergeant’s Gold flea drops. He’s never had flea problems because he’s an indoor cat. But yesterday I noticed a bunch of fleas on him. I ran out to get something because he was starting to pull his hair out and scratch like crazy. I wish I’d listened to my gut and not used it… the ingredients seem so toxic. But I said, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Lots of people use this stuff.” Well, this morning he was having a neurotoxic reaction with muscle spasms and shaking! The vet thinks he’ll be okay, but it will take a day or two for him to recover. She said she’s seen reactions like this before, fairly frequently!! Why is crap like this on the market????!!! Poor Max is on Valium and muscle relaxants while he waits it out!!
DON”T USE SERGEANT”S FLEA AND TICK PRODUCTS!!!

Kaia and I crafted felt doughnuts, stuffed with polyfill and catnip, for some of our favorite feline friends! There are all different icing and sprinkle types, for your cat’s specific tastes. We gave the first one, a raspberry icing with chocolate sprinkles, to our cats as an early gift. As you can see, they are definite doughnut fans!

“It’s MINE! All MINE!!”

The Standoff!

The Smackdown!

The victor (note: Max, the tabby is at least 12 pounds… Isabella barely tips the scales at 6 pounds!)

Kaia has been studying the 5 kingdoms of life at school for the past 4 weeks. So, we thought we’d take a trip out to the Nature Center to see what in the Animal, Plant, and Fungus kingdoms we could find.

Poor little papa peacock is moulting and has no tail feathers. But you see behind mama Peahen’s legs there is a little baby??? Once that little one gets big enough, he/she will be coming to live with us!!!! Do any of you own peafowl?? If so, do they live with chickens?

When we got home, we found this:

We aren’t really sure what kingdom it belongs to… It seemed to enjoy eating non-living things.

But, it sure was friendly.

And it enjoyed hanging around with us

Oh, and the prize for naming Louise has arrived safely at it’s new home. Isn’t it cute?

Poor Suki tore her ACL on Monday and needs major surgery. She was just running around the land and must have taken a wrong step. It’s just like a torn ACL in humans. Since she is an 85 pound Akita, really the only viable option for her is to get TPLO surgery (If she were a smaller or much less active dog, she could have “suture” surgery, but it doesn’t work as well on larger dogs) This is going to run us $2500+ (AHHH! there goes the savings!) but it will get her a new knee basically. She’s 9 years old, yes, but she’s very active and healthy and if we did nothing she would go down hill very fast, probably tear the other ACL (because she is now putting more weight on that leg), and lose the use of both back legs!

This has made me think more about my decision to try to rehome the cats. It seems like if I can spend that much on surgery for my dog, then I should be able to do more for my cats. I know, I know, I’m so fickel! It’s just it’s permanent! If I get rid of them they are gone for good and that’s that! I love my cats, it’s just that they are driving me crazy right now! Maybe they need more toys… Maybe some outdoor time… Maybe a pet therapist (maybe I need a therapist!)

Anyway, Suki is scheduled for a consult with an orthopoedic surgeon next week. Poor Suki!

Please don’t send hate mail…. please don’t tell me what a horrible, unfeeling cat mother I am… I know that once you adopt an animal you are promising them a ‘forever’ home… but life brings changes and I feel that this decision is to enhance the lives of my cats!

After many months of contemplation I have come to the heart breaking conclusion that I need to find my three devons another home. Very long story short, I’ve had Max (my 11 year old) since he was a baby. I got him with his brother, Mulligan. Mully died when they were 5 years old (from a severe rabies vaccination reaction), and a few months after that I gave birth to my first child. Max was very sad and unhappy. All he wanted was to be on my lap, or on my head, or on my shoulders, but those places were now taken up with a baby. We moved a lot in the 4 years to follow and finally decided, last year, that it was time to get Max some playmates. So, we adopted 2 more devons (a 5 year old mama and her kitten). They have all become fast friends and love each other, but now I have 3 devons that only want my lap, and guess what… I have a new baby. Every time I sit down to nurse him there are three cats pushing him aside and trying to get love. They won’t go to my husband or my daughter for affection, and my arms are always full. So, for the past year, no one has been happy, and I feel SO guilty. They follow me around and meow for affection. I’ve been thinking about it and talking it over with my family for months now, and finally decided that they would be happier in another home with someone who could compeltely dote on them. I also think it’s important that they go to a family that has had devons or atleast knows and understands their idiosynchcracies. They are crazy cats… not like a standard aloof cat! They love attention and want to be with you 24/7, they are talkative, energetic, and require (insist on) your affection.

Like I said, Max is 11 and in good health. He’s a bit overweight, but he is also big for a devon. Max has allergies for many standard cat foods, so he gets raw rabbit that I get from the local pet food store. Isabella is 6 and in great health. Daisy (the kitten) is 17 months and gets ‘goopy eye’ occassionally. The vet said it is a type of cat herpes (not conatagious)…. when ever she gets it, I put a little lysine in her food and it goes away. Otherwise she is also in great health.

I would like them to go to a home together.

Are you someone who could be a devoted and overly affectionate devon parent??? Will you let them sleep on your head and sit on your shoulders? Will you talk back to them when they meow at you? Will you mind them being at your feet? Please email if you think you can give them a good home!

(Pictures taken by John Narrin, the photographer for the New Life Journal. Their building experts came over on Friday to check out our place. They are doing a review/feature on our place in their April, 2009 edition!!)

Here’s all the lard after it was canned. Looks like creamy milk, doesn’t it! I’m really enjoying using it to cook up eggs, veggies, etc…

Kaia and I spent some time making some holiday soaps. This was a batch of Wintergreen/Sweet Orange soap, and she’s mixing in a little cinnamon powder ‘to make swirlies!’, while enjoying a piece of Halloween candy.

The next day, we cut it up into pieces and will let it sit 3 weeks before using it (so it cures and isn’t so caustic). The first batch made 20 pieces of soap (~3 oz each)

The second batch we doubled and ended up with another 44 bars! This one is Clarysage/Ylang Ylang with swirlies of cardamom.

We’ve been getting the garden beds ready. Made 8 raised bed frames with scrap wood. Hopefully that will be enough to get us started this spring. Toby tilled the soil and mixed in lots of leaves and some roof dirt (which will help break up the clay and add some compost). I need to add more compost, manure and soil and will plant some rye for the winter.

We gave Kaia a mini-sling to practice carrying doll babies… But she found a fuzzy, wiggly doll baby she likes better… Snuggle or torture? It depends on who you ask.

She’s also decided she wants to learn how to knit. So she plopped down in the rocker by the fire (an appropriate place for knitting, I think) and pretended for a while. We are going to start a kids knitting group with some other moms when we get back from Disney.

And, what post would be complete without snuggling kitties… Isabella, Daisy, and Chub Chub Max.

This weekend, Toby started working on the front steps. We are putting in 4 steps that come from the drive to the front door. We will also be putting in a little landing-type porch, just to keep the mud and dirt from coming in the house all the time.
Since you always get the butt and back shots of Toby at work, I made him turn around this time:-)
The steps will be filled in with gravel once he digs out a little more clay for a drainage pipe to help divert the water that comes down the stairs.

On Monday, Kaia and I took a little drive to get some new chickens. Our three old ladies are looking bored and seemed like they might need some company. They are also not producing many eggs these days. So, here are the new ladies:
The two small ones in front are Speckled Sussex and they are probably about 3-4 months old (the old ladies are in the background).

This cute little one is Poodle Noodle. She’s our Silkie and she’s also ~4 months old. She will be a smaller chicken, but still lays nice eggs and we just couldn’t pass up getting her.

Here are the other three. They are all about 6 months old. The larger one is an Ameraucana Rooster! I never really wanted a rooster in our bunch ’cause they can be so rough with the ladies, and so loud. But this breed is supposed to be more gentle, and if we hatch any of the eggs he fertilizes, those chickens could lay brown, blue, or olive colored eggs! Cool, eh? His name is Crowy. The whitish lady below him is Biscuit and she is an Ameracana female (so she’ll lay blue eggs). The orange lady is a Salmon Faverolle. I’d never heard of this breed until I went out to get the chickens, but she is very docile, friendly and supposedly will be a good layer. She is also really cute! I’ll have to get a better picture of her for you.

And just for the snuggle fun of it, here’s Kaia and her little friend Max

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About Me

Hey there! Welcome to my blog. I'm a Nurse-Herbalist turned homesteader, fiber artist, and homeschooling mom of two crazy-awesome kids. I love to knit, sew, play on aerial lyra, and wear my pajamas all day long